1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shotguns and, in particular, to shotguns that can be rapidly loaded with ammunition.
2. Background Information
Under many circumstances it is necessary or desirable to rapidly load and fire rounds of ammunition from a shotgun. The ability to rapidly reload a shotgun for subsequent firing is often key to the firearm's effectiveness. For example, in police work and military applications, it is often necessary, for the user's survival, to be able to rapidly load a shotgun between firing rounds. In some sporting events, such as practical shotgun shooting and sporting clays, the ability to rapidly reload and fire a shotgun with selected load types is also very desirable. Although rapid firing and reloading capabilities have been achieved with some firearms, such as semi-automatic rifles and pistols, they have not yet been satisfactorily achieved with shotguns.
Known shotguns, such as pump-action and semi-automatic, gas-operated, blowback-designed shotguns, typically have a fixed, tubular-shaped magazine mounted below and parallel to the barrel, wherein the shot shells are loaded individually into the magazine. A fixed magazine typically holds as few as three and as many as eight shotgun shells. After all of the shells are fired, the next round of shells are loaded one at a time into the fixed magazine. The process is both time-consuming and complicated, essentially rendering shotguns an impractical alternative to other firearms in many situations where speed loading or the use of differing load types is critical.
The fundamental need to carry and load shotgun shells has been addressed in various ways, including external shot shell carriers that may attach to the butt stock or receiver group of the shotgun, clothing or belts that accept shot shells in friction-fit elastic material, and external speed loaders that must be carried separately and fitted to the shot gun temporarily during the loading process. Scott, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,157) disclose a butt stock shell holder, wherein the butt stock is hollow/apertured to hold multiple shells with their lengths transverse to the length of the butt stock. Naber (U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,284), Beltron (U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,110), and Sniezak, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,853) each disclose speedloaders. Bentley, et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,452,533 and 6,032,395) disclose drum-style magazines that may be attached and removed from the magazine aperture at the bottom of a shotgun receiver, which magazines hold multiple shells in a circular configuration wherein the shells advance in a circumferential path into the receiver. Melby (U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,481) discloses an L-shaped shell holder that attaches to the forward end of a shotgun magazine to hold an extra shell. Each of these options involves certain problems, including low capacity, loss of speed due to the amount of friction required in the shell holder to retain shot shells during firing and recoil or during user movement, and/or the additional weight, bulk, and complexity related to non-attached speed loader solutions.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to overcome the problems associated with trying to rapidly load rounds of ammunition into a shotgun, and the disadvantages associated with prior attempts to overcome said problems.